Brett Lebda signs with Toronto 2 yrs worth $2.9 mil. Wings would not pay him that kind of money, but other teams pounce on the players that spent time in Detroit organization. Lebda didn't manage to earn a permanent spot on the team while given ample opportunities.

Other teams seem to learn from the Wings the way around the salary cap when signing players. Devils just signed Kovalchuk to the 17-year $102 million deal. Kovalchuk will earn $6 million each of the next two seasons, $11.5 million for the following five seasons, $10.5 million in the 2017-18 season, $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season, $6.5 million in 2019-20, $3.5 million in 2020-21, $750,000 the following season, and $550,000 for the final five years of the unprecedented deal.

Other teams seem to learn from the Wings the way around the salary cap when signing players. Devils just signed Kovalchuk to the 17-year $102 million deal. Kovalchuk will earn $6 million each of the next two seasons, $11.5 million for the following five seasons, $10.5 million in the 2017-18 season, $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season, $6.5 million in 2019-20, $3.5 million in 2020-21, $750,000 the following season, and $550,000 for the final five years of the unprecedented deal.

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The Devils went much further overboard than the Wings. It looks like the league is going to kill the proposed deal:

Kovalchuk was to earn $6 million each of the next two seasons, $11.5 million for the following five seasons, $10.5 million in the 2017-18 season, $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season, $6.5 million in 2019-20, $3.5 million in 2020-21, $750,000 the following season, and $550,000 for the final five years of the unprecedented deal.

The Devils would have absorbed an annual salary-cap hit of $6 million -- the average amount per season. That number was brought down because of the extended years at low salary at the end.

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I was confused about why it is circumventing the cap until I read that part. Now I understand. So the salary cap hit for NHL contracts is determined by the average salary per year? Why don't more teams do this?